Format Details: Jewel Case
Release Date: 29 August 2000
Label: Ace Records
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 029667176224
Genres: Rock 'N' Roll Pop
Description
When it comes to songwriting, Ernie Maresca would be the first to admit he's no George Gershwin and he'll readily concede that he's no Frank Sinatra in the singing stakes either. Part outsider and part record industry hustler, Maresca was essentially a backroom boy whose skewed vision of teenage America enabled him to tap into the commercial lodestone as a songwriter and occasional vocalist in his own right for almost a decade. Born in the Bronx in 1939, Maresca started out as the baritone vocalist in a neighbourhood group, The Regents, and got his first break in 1958 when Dion & The Belmonts, another Bronx group he knew, recorded his song No One Knows, a Top 20 hit on the Laurie label. Maresca quit The Regents and took up songwriting, penning another Dion & The Belmonts hit, A Lover's Prayer. Dion & The Belmonts had come to the fore earlier in the year with I Wonder Why, a Top 30 hit which defined the white doo wop sound and led the way for many more similar (though not as distinctive) groups such as The Elegants, The Chimes, The Passions and The Mystics. The Regents, meanwhile, had broken up only to reform in 1961 (without Maresca) after their three year-old demo of Barbara Ann became a surprise hit. Maresca penned their follow-up, Runaround, which also charted and extended his winning streak with Runaround Sue and The Wanderer, both major hits for the now solo Dion. The Regents later became The Runarounds whose Unbelievable, a Maresca song, (heard here) came out on Nat King Cole's KC label in 1963. There are three different versions of The Wanderer on this CD: (1) Maresca's original demo dating from the late 50s-.-(2) the legendary 'first take' by Dion where having cast a jaundiced eye over the words for probably the first time, he mutters the immortal aside, "Dese lyrics get me." (Fearful of offending radio stations, Laurie implemented a minor lyrical change. On Maresca's original demo, he sings the line, "with my two fists of iron and my bottle of beer" - a macho exultation which makes perfect sense. Whereas Dion sings the altogether less effective, "with my two fists of iron and I'm going nowhere".) And (3), a spoof version by Foreign Intrigue - actually Maresca himself goofing off over the original backing track. Another Bronx group, Nino & The Ebb-Tides had turned down the chance to record The Wanderer before Dion, in favour of another equally strong, though not as successful Maresca song, Happy Guy, also heard here. These successes turned Maresca into a neighbourhood hero, everyone's best buddy and a guy to look up to, literally - he stands over six feet tall. Figuring Ernie had the clout to make things happen, vocal groups he only vaguely knew would assail him at every turn hoping he'd put them in touch with one of his music biz contacts uptown. Or he'd be told that someone's cousin down at the deli had written a song they swore was a hit. If anyone had anything on the ball, big-hearted Ernie was always there to help and in doing
Tracklisting
Young Jessie
Wynonie Harris
Willie Hightower
Willie Headen
Wayne Cochran
Wanda Jackson
Wanda Jackson
Walter Horton
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
